It ain't a Ferrari, if it don't look Ferrari

If it's a Ferrari, it's gotta look, sound and drive like one. Luce, Ferrari's first e-supercar, has divided its clientele, like split electrons. It's pricey enough. It has power, thus the vroom. But it doesn't appeal to the Ferrari purist. And for a reason. e-Cars are designed differently. They tend to be taller than road-hugging hypercars. That wrecks the silhouette of what has come to be associated with fast cars. Gone are the curves - and, worse - Ferrari Luce has five seats. Mamma mia! The car has been designed in association with Apple fame Jony Ive. So, it's gotta appeal to new buyers Ferrari is targeting, right? But the same way you'd react to a drawerful of iPhones that don't look Apple-y enough, if you have a garage full of Ferraris, you may be tempted to draw a curtain around Luce. Because (nearly) everything in the Ferrari brand is about design. Then again, you might not, just for sheer variety.

Rival Lamborghini has taken the hint from the reception to Luce, scrapping plans for its e-supercar. This could be an overreaction. The number of cars that need to be sold in this category to turn in a profit can easily be reached through curiosity demand. The reason electric supercars don't sell is the luxury attached to their ancestors. Luxury carmakers need to change that mindset. But it's not an easy job. All EVs are way more powerful than their fuel-guzzling grandfathers. This closes the gap between a regular car and a sports car both running on batteries. Luxury pricing has to be justified through design, which tends to suffer on account of heavy batteries.

Then there is Formula E, which doesn't work quite as well as Formula 1 because electric cars don't have the endurance. They can't do the same number of laps. Formula E is gaining popularity. Yet, it's far from being a ramp for car couture. Ferrari is using its fabled 'bucking horse' brand loyalty to broaden the definition of luxury in the auto industry. Enzo Ferrari would have approved. Never mind what he thought about Luce's looks as he shifted in his grave.